Chattanooga Sports Authority Board Meeting - August 14, 2025
Chattanooga Sports Authority Board Meeting - August 14, 2025
The Chattanooga Sports Authority Board convened to discuss the South Broad District Ballpark project, review financial progress, and approve several change orders and payments. The project remains on schedule and under the $86 million stadium budget, with approximately $37 million spent and $59 million encumbered. All resolutions were approved unanimously.
Consent Calendar
- The minutes from the June 12, 2025, meeting were approved unanimously.
Public Comments & Testimony
- No public comments were made.
Discussion Items
- Financial Progress Report (August 2025): Paul Boylan, from the city's accounting department, presented a detailed budget breakdown. The stadium budget stands at $86 million, with a total project budget (including infrastructure) of $125 million. Encumbrances total $59 million, actual expenditures are ~$37 million, and a third drawdown of $14 million from US Bank is underway. The board appreciated the increased clarity of the report.
- Construction Update: Sherry Allen (Senior Advisor for Economic and Community Development) and Andy Stone (Perimeter Properties) provided an update via slides and drone video. Structural work on the powerhouse, pattern shop, and third base building is underway. The field was raised 10 feet during schematic design to address groundwater concerns from off-site contamination. The riverwalk closed in July 2025 for utility work and is expected to reopen in Q1 2026. The project is on schedule despite heavy rains, thanks to a designed drainage system. DBE participation is progressing toward the 30% goal.
- Change Order #1 (Executive Architect Contract): Resolution authorizing $735,960.75 plus $45,000 in reimbursable expenses (total contract value $5,123,960.75) for design revisions, including field elevation changes, powerhouse and pattern shop revisions, kitchen equipment coordination, and theme regulation coordination. The initial contract had a $400,000 contingency that is eliminated, yielding a net increase of $335,906. All costs remain within the $86 million stadium budget. Approved.
- Change Order #2 (S&ME Materials Testing Contract): Resolution adding $143,615 for special inspections (e.g., 100% weld testing on the third base building) to the existing contract, for a total contract value of $327,062. The increase is due to more extensive testing requirements than initially assumed. Still within overall budget. Approved.
- Payment to Pipe Properties (Escrow Agreement): Resolution authorizing $167,862 from unallocated interest on the sports authority's bonds, per the escrow agreement signed in October 2024. This covers carrying costs for funds placed in escrow at bond sale. Discussion clarified that these interest funds are not part of the stadium budget but are a contractual obligation. Approved.
- Natural Gas Service Resolution: Resolution authorizing up to $80,002.01 for extending natural gas service from Chattanooga Gas Company to the ballpark to support food operations. This is within the overall project budget. Approved.
- TIF Revenue Reporting: Board members requested future reports showing actual TIF revenue compared to projections. Staff agreed to add this to future meeting materials.
Key Outcomes
- All five resolutions (items 5–8) were approved unanimously.
- The project remains on schedule for completion and under the $86 million stadium budget, with $59 million encumbered and ~$37 million spent.
- Staff will provide TIF revenue tracking in future board meetings, including a side-by-side comparison with projections.
Meeting Transcript
Good morning. Everybody doing good. Um, I guess we'll call to order. We'll do the approval of minutes for June twelfth, two thousand twenty-five. A second. Okay, all in favor. Okay. Section three. Uh, we'll have a section here for public comments. If anyone would like to say a few words or ask any questions. If not, we'll move to the presentation of financial progress report for August two thousand twenty-five. Public infrastructure budget by finance and August progress report by public works. Hi, good morning. My name is Paul Boylan. I'm with the uh accounting department with the city, and I'm going to go over the progress report with financials. It was expressed at the last board meeting that our budget uh report to be more uh broken out and uh explained. So if you had that with you today, I believe it was sent. The stadium includes things such as uh professional services, the construction of the site, team equipment and contingency expenses. Below that we have the public infrastructure, which is essentially the West 26th Street infrastructure surrounding the stadium. To the right of that, it is broken up into five columns, which includes the budget, encumbrance, the actual expenses, the amount remaining, and the percentage used. For example, uh the percentage user explains the uh the amount that has been uh expensed from the budget and uh is shown in percentage form. Most notably on the uh stadium side, we have $59 million encumbrance, so that just shows that there's been a lot of work done on the project and it is in the pipeline to be expensed. So by the next time we meet at the next board meeting, you should see a lot of that uh shown up in the actual column. Uh beyond that, uh, before I move on to the next statement, does the board have any questions about this statement? Okay, I'll uh move on to the next one, which is more of a detailed explanation of all the expenses incurred as well as the balance. Umtably on this one uh with the uh cash res cash with agents with US bank. Uh something I wanted to let the board know is that we are in the process of making our third drawdown from the bank for the amount of uh 14 million. So at the next board meeting, you should see that represented on the statement. So where it says 76 million with US bank, that should be roughly 61 million by the time we do the next drawdown. If there's any other questions that the board may have, I'll be happy to answer. No in the bank, in other words. Oh, yeah. It's still there. All right. Okay, thank you. But when you say draw down from the bank, you just mean um uh monies to cover fields. Yes, ma'am. Yes, ma'am. Yeah, so in other words, this amount here that six million dollars in a fine cash. Is that what's that? Is that say uh six million actual the first item on the balance sheet? Oh, okay. So let's see from the first item on the budget where it says professional services, six million. No, she on the balance sheet, okay. Yes, ma'am. I I believe so. Yes. Okay, thank you. Okay, thank you. Thank you, I really appreciate this clarity.
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